I'm pleased to share that I am part of a multidisciplinary team of investigators recently awarded an NIH planning grant (R13) to organize with communities in the San Joaquin Valley to address the burden of obesity among the Latino community. Over the next 3 years, we will convene a series of workshops that will bring researchers from public health, psychology, anthropology, and sociology together with community members and organizations to discuss barriers to healthful eating and physical activity. An important aim of the grant is to create a meaningful dialogue and partnership between academics and community members. From the academic side, we hope to learn about the challenges this community faces and the solutions they propose, and we hope to contribute our expertise in research design to help tackle the problem.

The segment below was featured on Univision's Health Week / Semana de la Salud on Tuesday, August 26, 2014. Watch below or go to the website to view the rest of the videos featuring challenges to eating healthfully - exacerbated by the drought - faced by vulnerable communities in California's Central Valley.

Perhaps the most striking thing I have learned in my year in the Central Valley is this paradox: 65% of the produce consumed in the U.S. comes from this region, yet the people who pick that produce are at high risk of food insecurity and lack access to healthy, fresh foods.

I had the opportunity to talk about this problem and one solution - the food truck, Produce on the Go - with the Univision documentary crew who came out to film Produce on the Go. I loved the experience and can't wait to see the results.